


Where We End and Where I Begin

by gabrielle015



Category: DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: F/M, So does selina, Unrequited Love, bruce is a sucker for babies, jon is the best thing, lois knows everything, mentions of past relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 14:00:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17427251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gabrielle015/pseuds/gabrielle015
Summary: "Jon would grow and he would have an endless network of watchful protectors to look over him. Clark would teach him and love him and live the life he deserved. And Bruce would watch from a comfortable distance, pressing down on those feelings and looking forward.Endings and beginnings. They were both very good at those."Or where Bruce Wayne pays the Kent family a visit to finally meet baby Jon.





	Where We End and Where I Begin

The suburbs of Metropolis had hustle and bustle, but not nearly as much as the inner city. School traffic, work traffic, and other things of that sort were all that occupied the two way streets leading to the Kent residence.

Bruce chose the black Scion for the drive over. It was low key, yet still a sports brand. A careful choice, much like all other choices surrounding anything dealing with Clark.

If there was a word that could accurately describe their relationship from Bruce’s standpoint, it would be “cautionary.”

Careful where they chose to speak. Careful what they said when others were around. Careful when they did favors for the other. Careful with each other’s secrets, lives, and families. Careful with any affections. Tentative.

The engine calmed and purred again as he turned the corner into the neighborhood. Two story homes and a park at the end of the cul-de-sac. It screamed _family_ and domesticity, and although Clark had told Bruce where he and Lois were moving to, Bruce hadn’t actually been by to visit.

He pulled his car in front of the correct address and stared. There was a tall, brown privacy fence guarding the backyard, the grass was green, and he and Lois’ car were parked side by side in the white driveway because Bruce knew they still had excess items cluttering their garage.

Even so, it was an image that made him feel something he didn’t want to examine. He smirked. Bruce could imagine Clark soaring overhead and house hunting, falling in love when he found the perfect area to start the next chapter of his life.

Stalling wasn’t likely to make the situation go away, so Bruce pushed the button to silence the engine, and stepped out of the car.

The air smelled like the flowered trees that lined the street. It so greatly contrasted the city, and even then, some of the worst parts of Metropolis didn’t reek like some parts of Gotham.

And it was quiet. Not enough that anything would escape Clark’s range, no, but enough to feel relaxed.

Bruce walked the curved pathway to the door, stepping onto the porch and ringing the doorbell. There was a greeting mat that had the Planet’s logo on it. Bruce kept his feet off it.

The door opened to reveal Lois there.

Not even Bruce had a word to describe what their relationship with each other was.

Too much history and too many situations. Too many years of running in the same circles, only for it all to end up exactly how it was meant to. With her here, and with Bruce…somewhere else in the world.

“Right on time for a change,” she greeted, a hand on her hip, the other still on the door.

“Cut my meeting short. Told them I had an important engagement,” Bruce said, smirk on his face. That pseudo charm he used was so easily slipped into, not that it changed things a bit. Lois knew exactly who he was; knew that expressions were just more masks.

“Well, come in. They're on the couch,” she moved then, opening the door wider and gesturing a hand.

Bruce stepped over the threshold and into the house.

The stairwell was directly in front of him to his right, and the hall to his left led to the kitchen, and further into the living room.

“He just fell asleep too,” Lois said, voice quieter this time as she closed the door and locked it. “A little cranky today.”

Bruce nodded, not that he made much noise anyway. He let Lois lead him to the living room like he couldn’t guess, and he saw Clark’s back first, his head bent down.

Lois stopped at the opening, smiling gently back at Bruce. Bruce walked forward, footsteps muffled by the carpet.

Clark didn’t look up until Bruce had walked around and was now standing in front of the couch.

Years of being around him never prepared Bruce for seeing him when he hadn’t seen him in a while.

There was a lazy smile on his face, and Bruce briefly wondered if parenthood had left him a little zapped. Or as zapped as he could be, given the circumstances.

He wasn’t wearing his glasses, and there was a wet spot on the front of his white t-shirt, close to his right shoulder.

“Come get a look at him,” he spoke lowly.

Bruce took another step forward, looking down on the bundle in his lap as if to scrutinize it.

The baby was wrapped appropriately, blue beanie cap on his head that had the Metropolis _Rocket’s_ logo on the front. He was laying on a small cushion, like a bean bag made for a new born; settled right onto Clark’s lap.

Bruce’s first thought was that the baby looked like any other baby. He really wasn’t here to file information away, but that was automatic at this point. Bruce knew that Clark hadn’t looked any different when he was a baby; neither would Jon.

“Would you like to hold him?”

Bruce’s eyes snapped up to Clark’s.

He nodded, then sat down; a comfortable distance away from Clark. Clark carefully slid his hands underneath the cushion, and Bruce met him halfway as he passed Jon over to his lap.

Jon started stirring after a moment, as if he was aware that someone unfamiliar was in his space. He’d had three months to implant himself on his parents and vice versa. He’d know when someone new was nearby.

And slowly but surely, tiny eyes cracked open, and then opened some more, revealing eyes that couldn’t possibly belong to anybody but the man sitting next to him.

Bruce expected a small commotion, but Jon just stared, fidgeting in his blankets. He was looking at Bruce much like Bruce was looking at him. Staring at each other like the other person was just something else they had to get used to.

As Clark looked on at the scene, he kept smiling, turning to look at Lois still standing in the opening to the room.

Her arms were crossed, and she was looking on warmly at the scene in front of her, but when she saw that Clark was looking at her, she smirked mischievously and nodded before turning and leaving the room.

That’s when Bruce spoke.

“Everything is alright, I assume.”

Clark nodded. “Thank you for arranging us with Doctor Leslie here. She was really efficient.”

Bruce hummed. “Not her first meta-birth. Anything noticeable yet?”

Clark cocked his head and considered. “No, not really. I don’t expect anything this early on. Even I didn’t start displaying differences until much later on. Who knows how long it will take him.”

Bruce hummed again, smirking slightly when Jon yawned.

Clark continued talking. “Only a few people have been by. Lois arranged things so that she can work from home for the time being, but Jimmy and Perry came by. Other people sent more gifts. There’s a small dagger up in our room because I don’t want to leave it in Jon’s room. Diana seems to believe it was a fit gift for a child. I didn’t argue. Barry shot me a text congratulating me on entering fatherhood. It was a picture of the twins and his broken living room table, so there’s that for a warning.”

Bruce laughed through his nose. “Yes, that sounds about right.”

Clark sat back, getting more comfortable. “Well, how are things for you? I haven’t seen…well, any of you in a while. How are you?”

“I am well. Tim is doing better.”

“Oh, good. I was worried.”

There was silence then, which would have been awkward if it weren’t for Jon starting to make bubbles as his mouth.

“I do have a dinner after this,” Bruce said, mirth in his voice.

“If he spits on you just let it happen,” Clark shrugged. “It’s a good mark.”

Bruce looked over at him then. “Right. Like the stain on your shirt.”

“Burping is messy and I forgot a cloth,” Clark defended. “A dinner back in Gotham?”

“Yes. Selina and I.”

“Ah,” Clark answered.

And Bruce didn’t know if now was exactly the right time to tell Clark this, but accuracy and precision were for his nightly activities. With the few people he called friends, he figured there was never an appropriate time to be honest except always.

“I was actually meaning to tell you about her and I, too,” Bruce began, slightly readjusting.

“What about you two?”

Bruce inhaled. “I’m going to propose to her soon.”

There was more silence, accompanied by Jon’s small spit bubbles.

“Really?” Bruce heard Clark say. “Well, wow. Uh, _congratulations_ , Bruce. This is really good.”

He swallowed at that. “Think she’ll say yes?”

Clark laughed then, maybe a little louder than he intended to. “You wouldn’t be asking if you weren’t sure. My guess is you two have already talked about it and you wanted to make it a surprise.”

“More like she demanded I do it properly,” Bruce answered. The most unconventional woman he met wanted a traditional proposal and wedding, based on what she’d told him that one morning in bed. Just like her.

“Do the kids know?”

“They know that I plan to do it and when, because they’ll have to patrol without me that night.”

“And how did that go?”

Bruce sighed. “Dick wasn’t surprised, just supportive. Tim wasn’t exactly surprised, nor was he impressed.”

“He will come around,” Clark assured.

“And Alfred, well, he so politely expressed that when he told me he wished I would settle down with a nice woman one day, that he hadn’t imagined Selina, not at all.”

“That’s as close to his blessing as you could hope to get.”

They both laughed then, quietly as to not disturb Jon, whose eyes were wide and planted on Bruce.

“He has your eyes,” and while he did mean to say that out loud, he didn’t mean for it to sound the way that it did; longing.

“And his mother’s lighter hair,” Clark added. “Jimmy bought that cap.”

They spoke a bit longer, not about work, not about the League, not about the world. Just about small things. Surface things. Because that was cautious and that’s what they did with each other lately.

Lois came back down later, and perfect timing too, as Jon had let everyone in the vicinity know that he was not happy. She scooped Jon up from his cushion and nodded at Bruce before taking Jon back upstairs with her to feed.

“I should be heading back,” Bruce said, seeing that as his window of opportunity to leave. Clark stood up and walked him to the door.

“Look Bruce, I don’t know how long it’ll be before I return. I know I can’t leave Kara at it forever, so I won’t be gone much longer, I just-

“That’s alright, Clark,” Bruce interrupted, his hand on the doorknob. “Sure, everyone misses you, especially Barry, but we understand. Let someone else handle the world for once.”

It bit something in his stomach to see Clark’s shoulders sag in relief.

“Thank you,” he answered, looking down and then back up. “I should know that, I just- well, feeling a bit restless.”

Bruce nodded. He understood that. Clark picked the most family oriented home he could find, in the nicest most affordable area possible. He’d taken off all his duties to acquaint himself with his son; to get used to being responsible for one life instead of thousands, yet no less important.

The world spun on and there were still cries for help, but here Clark was. Sitting down. Restless.

Bruce clicked his tongue once, and responded. “Nothing you can’t handle.”

They stood there and looked at each other a bit longer.

The truth was that there were countless things that both of them wanted to say. Words that wanted to crawl their way out of overturned stomachs and up their throats. Feelings that no one wanted to deal with anymore just as much as they wanted to plunge back into them head first.

Bruce let himself out, waving behind him and walking back to his car without turning back.

He didn’t look to see if Clark was still standing in the doorway as he used their driveway to turn around. He didn’t look to see if he was still there as he drove back down the street.

Bruce obeyed the speed limits of the residential areas, but as soon as he found the highway, he pushed it.

 Clark was happy, and that’s what mattered. Never mind his comment about being restless, no matter how much Bruce wanted to purposely take that out of context. He had his picket-fence dream and Bruce was sure they’d get a dog soon. Clark had what he wanted; what he always said he wanted. He had it now.

And he was still restless.

Bruce was fine, or as fine as he could ever be considering the lives he lived. He was doing things of his own; creating a new life of his own that he soon hoped to dive in to. He was reshaping what his life would look like. He was moving.

The sun was setting, and the sky slowly darkened as he sped back to Gotham.

Clark was where he wanted to be, and soon Bruce would be where he wanted to be also.

His phone rang, and since it was connected to the car, Bruce answered it hands free.

“Good evening,” he answered.

“Good evening to you too,” the higher voice responded. “I was thinking Greco’s tonight. I’m in the mood for French.”

“I’ll call in our table,” Bruce answered. “You know they have a dress code, right?” He was joking, and she would know it.

“Really? Which is?”

“Men wear suits. Women wear dresses. Except all dresses must stop right above the knee.”

Selina laughed. “You’re the worst, truly. Where are you, anyway? You’re driving I hear.”

“Coming back from Metropolis. I went to visit the newest addition to the Kent family.”

“Oh really? That’s nice. Did they figure out how much you actually like babies?”

Bruce’s smile dropped a bit, but not in his voice. “I’m sure I gave myself away. Either way, I’ll be to you in an hour. Maybe a little less.”

“See you then,” Selina said.

Bruce ended the call, and pushed the peddle harder as he had slowed while taking the call.

He was sure he gave himself away, at the end. He should have just got up and left. He should have told Clark it was alright; that he could see himself out. He shouldn’t have stood there in that threshold that was too small for two men like them. He shouldn’t have stood there so they could stare at each other and think about the years of whispers in the dark and torn bed sheets. Rooftops and galas. Quiet words. Expressed concerns. Secrets and desires.

They were years passed that. Those things were long gone. They were onto other things now, mutually and verbally agreeing to put those times behind them.

Because Clark wanted what Bruce could never give him. And it didn’t even _matter_ what Bruce _really_ wanted; he could never have it anyway.

The lives they had to live were what they were living now. It was what was right; it was what made sense.

Jon would grow and he would have an endless network of watchful protectors to look over him. Clark would teach him and love him and live the life he deserved. And Bruce would watch from a comfortable distance, pressing down on those feelings and looking forward.

Endings and beginnings. They were both very good at those.

 

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: nocanonhere


End file.
